[PaQSO] Operating from Mt. Misery

[AD8J]

Operating from Mt. Davis (Mt. Misery)
By John Getz, AD8J

For years, I've have wanted to operate the Pennsylvania QSO Party from the
top of Mt. Davis, the highest point in Pennsylvania, which is in Somerset
County.  The easy way would be to drive to the parking area at the top and
operate mobile.  Not wanting to keep things simple, W3AG and myself decided
to set up a two transmitter multi-multi and try to beat the present Somerset
county multi record.  We would use computer logging and have an RF packet
connection.  And since there is no power at the very top, we would operate
off a generator.  The decision was also made to just operate on Saturday.

We assembled the stations in my garage along with three computers and worked
out most of the bugs.  After everything was working we ran a test using the
generator to make sure there weren't any problems.

The Wednesday before the contest I make the 2 ½ hour (each way) drive up to
Mt. Davis to install the dipole antennas.  It turned out that the trees at
the exact top were too stunted to make good antenna supports.  I found a
good location about ½ mile away that was only 30' lower in altitude.  This
location has an observation deck, a great view to the West and is still in
the middle of nowhere.  The weather was warm and clear.  The signal from the
PacketCluster, 65 miles away was an S-3 on the 2 meter mag mount.

On Friday we loaded everything in the van along with a table, chairs,
portable grill, coolers and a picnic (can you say roof only) shelter..  We
also added an Isopole antenna to try to improve the signal strength to the
PacketCluster.  And since the weatherman was calling for showers and cooler
temperatures, we added some heavy clothing.

We left Saturday morning at 7AM and were at the site about 9:30AM.  On top
of the mountain the temperature was about 45 degrees and it was raining.
However the forecast was for clearing skies in the afternoon. We started by
putting up the picnic shelter on the deck, followed by the table and all the
equipment. Because of the dry run in the garage, we had everything set up by
10:30AM and weren't missing anything.  However, problems started to appear.

The computers that networked fine in the garage didn't want to talk to each
other up on the mountain.  No problem, since we were each going to operate
on separate bands, we could merge the logs after the contest.  The
PacketCluster signal was only an S-1 even with the Isopole antenna.  Finally
the Cluster signal faded out completely.

The weather was starting to become a factor because we were in a rain cloud!
We could only see about 100' and the wind was blowing the mist across us and
all the equipment.  We put up plastic to keep some of the moisture off of
the equipment.  The roof and the plastic was really dripping.  We could see
the cloud mist all around us.

We started the contest at noon with Joe on 40 meters and myself on 20
meters.  Skip was real long on 20 with nothing closer than MO being heard
and more than the usual number of European stations calling in.  This
actually was nice as Joe was picking up close mults and I was getting the
far away ones.

About two hours into the contest, the wind picked up and the picnic shelter
was flapping up and down.  We had to add some additional ropes to keep it in
place.  The temperature was starting to drop.  Joe started taking a break
each hour to warm up in the van.  Myself, I was having too much fun working
stations while sitting in a rain cloud to take a break.  I also had on more
clothing layers than Joe.

At 1900Z we tried 15 meters but only found one station to work.  As a
result, we just kept plugging along on 40 and 20 meters.  Meanwhile, the
temperature continued to drop and the visibility wasn't improving.  In fact,
it was probably getting worse.

The radios and computers were holding up fine in their little plastic
shelter but the two operators were taking a beating.  At 2130Z we moved one
station to 80 meters which had a lot of activity.  I guess everyone was
tired of being on 40 and 80 all afternoon.   Joe announced that he probably
would only be able to operate CW as he was too cold to talk.

While Joe operated 80 meters, I fired up the grill.  It didn't matter that
the temperature was approaching freezing and we were standing in a rain
cloud, we were going to grill out the
cheeseburgers we brought!  Amazing what warm food can do to warm cold
bodies.

Our original plans were to operate until about 10PM but since the cold and
damp were really becoming an issue, we decided to shut down early.  As Joe
operated, I started taking apart
and packing everything that wasn't required for the one station.  Just
before dark, we shut down the generator and packed up the rest of the gear.
In the dark, we took down the picnic shelter and the antennas.  We were
still in the rain cloud!

Once we had everything and ourselves in the van, we had another problem.
There was so much moisture that the windows were all fogged up.  We ran the
A/C and defroster for about 15 minutes before we could start moving.  Even
then it was slow going because of the limited visibility outside.  After
dodging a couple of deer we finally made it down off the mountain and made
it home about 10:30PM.  We unloaded everything and let it start the drying
process.  The ice in the coolers hadn't even started to melt!

Did we break the record?  NO, with 298 QSO's we didn't even come close.  If
I did it again, what would I do different?  I'd drive to the parking area at
the top and operate mobile!